Giant Screaming Eagle

Virginia, Minnesota

An immense bronze eagle, 16 feet high and 27 feet wide, sits on the ground screaming to the sky as its wings shelter eight American soldiers from five different 20th century wars, gathered around a fallen comrade. The eagle's feathers at one point merge into the fabric of a U.S. flag.

The sculpture, whose weight has been variously reported as between seven and nine tons, took 14 years for Minnesota sculptor Gareth Andrews to complete. Its official title is "Shoulder To Shoulder, Even The Fallen Stand Tall," and it was dedicated on Labor Day weekend 2012. Tom Berrigan, chairman of the Iron Range Veterans Memorial Committee, told a local reporter that, "Ordinarily you wouldn't see anything like this unless it was in Washington D.C."